Ask yourself this compelling question: What would you do if you suddenly learned you'd been lied to all your life?
Would you rail against life's injustices, or seek a little justice of your own? Would you get mad, or simply get even by allowing the culprit enough rope to hang himself without your help?
In a question of right verses wrong, the answers seem easy enough to come by. For some of us, very little thought would have to be given to the situation to discover the answers I seek.
But what if I told you the rest of the story? That the culprit, the manipulator, the liar in this tale was your very own mother? That the woman who birthed you, nursed you, loved you and catered to you your whole life long was solely responsible for this travesty?
Would you still expect her to swing for her sins?
Cody Ryan has these difficult questions and more to answer in my newly completed novel, Thicker than Water. Set in the hills of southern Missouri, a family's private dilemma is made public when, after fifteen years of estrangement, a son learns that his father has been falsely accused of abandoning both him and his incapacitated mother following divorce. Raised to loathe the man who left them, Cody is stunned to hear his mother admit that it was she who instigated the divorce, she who had asked that his father leave his home and everything he loved behind. His family, his farm, his only son.
Cecily had her reasons. Valid ones, or so the bed-bound woman believes until Cody's hatred is suddenly directed at her. Hurt by what he views as a betrayal, shocked by her duplicity, Cody reluctantly turns to his father for the truth.
What he learns then is even more unforgivable. Not only has Cecily successfully deceived him, but his father as well, who has no idea that his wife has been ill all these years without him. Rendered partially paralyzed by a debilitating disease, Cecily chose suffering in silence over hindering her husband's fast-rising rodeo career. A championship belt buckle was what Clay had worked toward in life, what he'd always dreamed of one day attaining. Learning of her illness would only prolong that dream for him, or worse, make it disappear altogether as though it had never been.
Just as her own dreams of becoming a dancer had done.
Cecily knew what it was to crave a career, a goal in life, only to have it slip through one's fingers at the last possible moment. She wouldn't accept such a fate for the husband she loved. Sacrifices were meant to be painful, Cecily understood long before she'd ever considered the decision to make one of herself. More painful yet was the thought of Clay tossing aside his lifelong ambitions in order to care for an unexpectedly ill wife.
Excerpt
Cody came to a halt before her, where he speared her with a look of pure disgust.
Yes, Cecily realized as she waited for the final axe to fall, she was right. Her baby's arctic blue eyes could freeze a person cold.
“Do you even hear yourself right now, Mom? Do you ever take time out of your prideful self-absorption to actually listen to the things you say?”
He flung a hand in the air, making her flinch as he made his point. Though he tried, he couldn't be sorry for it. Not at this juncture.
"You wanted, you decided, you needed. Did it ever occur to you that Dad and I had needs, too? That winning a championship belt buckle might not have been as important—might never have been as important to him—as his family?
“And what about me,” he demanded, slapping hands on his hips as he towered belligerently over her. “You let me live more than half my life believing that my father turned his back on us. On you, when you needed him most.”
Memory niggled at the back of Cody's mind. It was of his grandfather through the screen again, standing over his seated mother much the same as he stood now, saying, “You should tell him, Cecily. He needs to know.”
“My God, Mom.” Cody slammed his eyes shut, digging into the sockets with his fists. "Tell me you didn't.”
She was almost afraid to ask. Her eyes were heavily shadowed now with unrest, and watchful. “Didn't what?”
“Let your husband leave here without telling him you were sick.”
“Now, Cody, I had reasons for that if you would just listen—”
“You did!” Shock had him staring, simply staring at her, his jaw and lips swinging slack with awe. “My God, Mom,” he breathed. “Do you know what you've done? Do you have any idea, any goddamned clue, as to what it is you've done?”
“It's not as bad as all that, Cody.” His mother tried reaching out a hand to him, her intentions only to soothe. Cody quickly sidestepped her touch, avoiding the brush of her fingers as though, overnight, her short, blunt-clipped nails had been polished with poison.
Cecily sighed, letting the hand fall again into her lap. Where it instantly began worrying the blanket that covered her numb, listless legs. She was forced to swallow before she spoke. “Your father'll be upset, and that's to be expected. But I know Clayton Ryan through and through. Once he hears an explanation for all this, and my reasons behind it, eventually he'll come around. He'll understand.”
Cody thought differently, but didn't bother mincing words with her. Instead, he turned and stalked to the bedroom door, throwing it open as he threw over his shoulder, “For your sake, I hope you're right. Because I sure as hell never will.”
Seconds later, she heard the screen door slam as it shut behind him.
TITLE: Thicker Than Water
AUTHOR: D.C. Jennings
COPYRIGHT: 2008 by Dawn C. Jennings
GENRE: Family
PAGES: 291
PRICE: $13.56
PUBLISHER: Dawn C. Jennings
ISBN-10: 1440411166
ISBN-13: 9781440411168
Clayton Ryan thought he had the world by the tail. Or did he? He had a beautiful wife, a son and a ranch in Missouri. To add to all this he was rodeo roping champion.
After fifteen years of marriage, the Ryan’s’ separate and divorce. They have a ten-year-old son at that time. Over the span of those fifteen years he is only permitted to see his son, Cody, occasionally. During this time, Cody is led to believe that Clay walked out abandoning his wife and son. Will Cody ever find out what really happened?
Fifteen years later Clay returns to Poplar Bluff, Missouri to try to reconcile with his family. He isn’t greeted with open arms. He meets betrayal, lies and just plain stubbornness at every turn. To make matters worse, he finds out that his own parents lied to him by not telling him about his wife’s’ illness. Clay never knew about his wife’s illness before he left.
Cecily, at last, tells Cody the truth about his father’s leaving. Filled with fifteen years of bitterness and hatred against his father, Cody doesn’t know what to believe. He suddenly turns all of his hatred and anger on his mother and turns to his father.
Clay stays at his parents’ house while trying to reconcile with his wife and son. There, he opens a gift from his mother. Through this gift he comes to the realization that even his parents have lied to him!
Throughout the story, D.C. Jennings takes us through the story so we can witness the tears, trials, lies and misunderstandings like we were there. She tells the story so vividly that the reader can feel the anger, desperation and bitterness.
If you want an exciting, easy to read book that shows people in all their complexity, this is the book for you. I highly recommend this!
To learn more about the author and to order THICKER THAN WATER, please visit the authors’ website at: http://www.dawnjennings.com.
Reviewed by Ann Keller
2/16/2009
D.C. Jennings plunges us into the lives of a family scarred by tragedy and heartache, but the power of love illuminates this wonderful piece of writing. Learning she was going to become terribly ill, Cecily sent her husband packing, trying to save him from a life of horrible obligations that would slowly drag him down. So, Clay kept his distance from the woman he loved so fiercely, through years of solitary ranching and a multitude of rodeos.
In time, their son Cody grew to manhood, following his father’s love of horses and rodeos. But Cody is an embittered young man. For years, he thought that Clay abandoned him and his mother, never realizing the secret Cecily carefully hid from her husband. When Clay learns the truth, nothing can keep him from the woman and the son he loves.
Reminiscent of John Steinbeck, D.C. Jennings spins a marvelous tale. This is a fast read and a book which will linger in your memory - well after the last page is turned in triumph.
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